Hey everyone,

I have another big update this week! Over the past couple of days I’ve added four chapters to Red Circle, which you can read here:

• Chapter Seven: Beneath Our Feet
• Chapter Eight: Hush
• Chapter Nine: Inside Voices
• Chapter Ten: She’s Dead Too

I’ve now shared just under half of this novel on Inkshares, and I don’t think I’ll be posting anymore chapters. The next few to come after these really start to reveal some huge plot points and essential character moments, including the identity of the killer much sooner than you might expect. While I’m even prouder of what comes next, I want to keep that part of the story close to the vest until the complete novel is in your hands.

Like I mentioned last time, if you have the time or inclination to read my work, leave some feedback, recommend it to your followers, or share on social media, I would be forever grateful. Anything you can do to help me get the word out before the pre-order campaign begins would be amazing and I will gladly return the favor.

Thanks again for your support. Happy reading and writing!

Matt Farley

Hey, folks, some fantastic news to share! The clue is in the screen capture above from my campaign page -- that sticker that reads "Syndicate Pick."

What does this mean? BoAT has been selected as the Staff Syndicate pick for February. It is a huge endorsement for which I am immensely grateful. A sincere thanks to fellow author Chip Colquhoun for putting BoAT forward for consideration. Check out his novel, Ripe for Execution. 

For those of you who don’t know what an Inkshares Syndicate is, this is a group of people who contribute $10 or $20 a month to a pool and then use that to back a title in funding each month with a gift basket of pre-orders. There are and have been many syndicates over the years, for fantasy, science fiction, stories with strong female characters and other themes. The Syndicate that has chosen BoAT as its February pick is the Staff Syndicate. This is, as the name suggests, led by Inkshares staff. Anyone can opt in, including other Inkshares authors. (I am part of this Syndicate myself and cast the deciding vote on the January Syndicate pick.)

What does earning this distinction mean for BoAT and this campaign? Frankly, I don’t know yet, but with only two days left, the answer to that question is going to come soon. So, as I said on Monday, help me finish strong -- keep those pre-orders coming by ordering another copy for a friend or family member, or even better, by prodding those friends or family members to pre-order their own.

And if you have followed BoAT but haven’t pre-ordered yet, please, take the plunge!

Cheers

Leo

For immediate release: NUMBER 375!

March 5

With the score knotted up in the bottom of the 9th inning, GOING, GOING, GONE! crushed a hanging spitball from Indians’ pitcher Gaylord Perry, blasting it to the deepest part of the left field bleachers, to win the game and send the local fans home happy. It was the 375th home run of GOING, GOING, GONE!’s career, and it is now half way on its stated quest for 750 round trippers. GOING, GOING, GONE! thanks you so much for your support so far, and unabashedly asks you to dig deep and please pre-order a few more copies.

Bonjour mes amis!

Today is a good day because I identified the thing.

Rewind to about a month ago, me following up on the delivery of MINE draft three, and a long discussion with the publisher. It was not the conversation I expected, and caused a true Come to Zeus moment. Also, a valuable learning experience once I’d recovered from the shock and worked through the 5 stages of grief. 

I believe it was valuable enough to share with you, my friends.

If you have a book in production with Inkshares, then you’re familiar with the Author Questionnaire. Check out number two below. It’s the question that needs to be answered to take the story to the next level (a.k.a. sell that shiz!).

2) What is the hook that will really grab your reader? Please pitch the book in one or two sentences. This ‘pitch’ should be as pithy and captivating as possible.

From the commercial perspective, I am an unknown author, aspiring to be a mid-lister, and not even regarded as an up-and-comer (to my knowledge) so the reality of creating a suspenseful thriller with snippets of beautiful prose in a compelling voice that has literary aspirations isn’t enough to sell the book. What I do have is thirty seconds and a paragraph on the back of the book cover.

That’s my takeaway.

So, I called a meeting with my dev editor. I said, no matter how much it costs, no matter what it takes, I want to get my hair cut into the shape of a dick head.

Kidding. Lighten up. Been there, done that. 

What I said was no matter the outcome here, publishing wise, let’s take this story to the next level. She said, aiiight, let’s do it. Then she gave me a new insight into a core theme of the book I hadn’t noticed, but knew in my heart she’d nailed it.

Another big but, though, is how to illuminate the thing into the next iteration of the manuscript?

I put it all aside, knowing I had to trust the process which involves a cult-like faith in the creative higher power that the solution exists in the giant playground where ideas run and jump and fall off the monkey bars, breaking their arms and chipping their teeth.

Give it the space it needs, and all shall be revealed. Just don’t eat the sandbox treats.

Last night I lay in bed, feeling a weight like swimming in an ice-cold lake with concrete mukluks. Then, I got up early because something was going on and not just because I had to use the bathroom.

My process involves capturing precocious ideas when they throw rocks at me unexpectedly. This morning I went through those notes, compiled them into a document and parsed them into a solution, if not the solution.

It involves a looping cycle like the worm Ouroboros, the book’s tail eating the beginning, and…BAM! There’s the manuscript, regurgitated on the pages. 

At some point this spring or early summer, I’ll let you all know if this works, being good at completion to a deadline (once upon a time a young princess told me I had two minutes, the end).

Here’s another takeaway.

Nurture that germ that’s going to infect the reader and spread the story like a contagion across the pages, so it grows, unchecked, into…the thing...

Greetings friends,

I’m here to share some exciting news and to humbly request your help. To kick things off, I’ve recently added two new chapters to Red Circle, which you can read here:

• Chapter Five: The Visitor
• Chapter Six: Death Quota

After several chapters spent introducing new characters, these two circle back (pardon the pun) to Dean Orwell and Sarah Matthews, the lighthouse keeper and rookie cop who are at the center of this mystery.

Now for the part where I need your help. I’m approaching the end of this novel (most of it still not shared here), and while there is still a good deal amount of work ahead of me, I would like to start preparing for the inevitable pre-order campaign. Anything you could do to help spread the word about this novel would be appreciated in more ways than I can express. Whether that includes recommending it to your followers, sharing a link on social media, or anything else you can think of, I’d just love to get more eyes on this before we really get started.

Thanks so much in advance, and please don’t hesitate to reach out to me to let me know how I can return the favor.

Sincerely,

Matt Farley

                                       Prize Winning All-Star Team, Week 2!

Congratulations! Top 3, Brian S., Scott W., and David B., please pick from the week 2 list, which can be found with the link in red on my website. www.SteveHermanos.com.

Everyone else, you can rank a bunch of prizes and I’ll try to make a match, but no guarantees. Also, everyone, please buy another book. EBooks are only $10. We are almost half way to the 750 mark!

Week 2 Winning Team!

The winners of the Inkshares Mystery Contest have been announced, and I’m happy to say that "Cat’s Paw" is on the list! This means we will be going forward with all the editing and rewriting and nosegrinding that goes into the publication process, and, probably a year from today, the book will make it into your hands.

Onwards!

First place gets first choice.
Second place gets second choice.
Third place gets third choice.

After I hear from the gold, silver, and bronze winners, I’ll try to quickly reach out to winners 4 - 10, but you might not get a choice, just some cool cards in the mail (make sure to email me your street address if you’re a winner!) 

All of Week 2’s prizes in one photo



Prize 1: Autographed and framed Perez-Steele card of Jim Catfish Hunter, autographed by the great A’s and Yankees pitcher. What a dominant pitcher in the 1970s! A winner! Click on the image and it’ll take you to Youtube and the lite beer commercial in which a comedian calls him "Catfood."



 Prize 2: Seven 1955 Topps cards. Fair-Good condition. Probably worth $1-$2 dollars per card because of their condition. 64 years old!



 Prize 3: Now we move along to a few cards from the HELMAR BASEBALL ART CARD COMPANY. Many of you know that I’ve been writing the backs of some of the Helmar cards for a few years. I love what Charles Mandel, the greatest baseball artist alive today, does with Helmar. The artwork for the cover of Going, Going, Gone! is made up of Helmar cards. All of the cards on the cover of the book are transformed into characters in Going, Going, Gone! 

This is a Helmar Oasis card. Oasis has SEVEN LAYERS of paper. They are inspired by 1870s and 80s advertising signs in the era of gaslights. Charles Mandel’s genius shines through in every card he makes!



Back of the card.



Here’s a link to the current Helmar auction on eBay.

Time out to consider pre-ordering more of GOING, GOING, GONE for every one of your baseball-loving friends! Each pre-order is another entry for prizes. Click on the book to pre-order. Pick up a few more eBooks and help the team! Thanks!



Prize 4: Another amazing Helmar card. A framed Helmar-T206. Yes, that’s right, FRAMED. With a cork matting and Japanese paper border and thin plexi cover and back and a wax seal on the back. Hello Joseph Cornell!!!! These sell for $20 - $40, depending on the player. But they should sell for hundreds! One day!



The thickness of the framed card from last week’s card. The detail on the edge!



The back of the card, with a gummed tag inspired by antique baggage tags, initialed by the person who constructed the card. And that wax stamp!



Prize 5: Another Helmar art card. The series is Polar Night. John Cahill, from Indianapolis, who played in the 1880s. Baseball players were sometimes photographed in a studio, posing with a baseball suspended from a string. Such is the inspiration for this pose.



Prize 6: About 75 high-quality, contemporary football cards, including Troy Aikman.



Prize 7: Stack of over 100 cool baseball cards spanning the past 30 years.



Prize 8: Auction catalogue from the most recent REA auction, the premiere auctioneer of a breadth of quality baseball memorabilia, from Babe Ruth’s bat, to rare cards, photos, and on the front, sheet music with a very early lithograph of a baseball game. This would be a great way to see what the baseball-collecting world is up to.



Prize 9: Late 1970s Topps card, including the 1988 Orel Hersheiser. This one is worthy of sending to get graded. It’s from his MVP season and the last time the Dodgers won the World Series. We were all so much younger.



Prize 10: High-quality reprints of T206 cards. I enjoyed poring over the players in these cards who appear in GOING, GOING, GONE. I’d stare for a long time at the images. I spent two wonderful days in the library at the Baseball Hall of Fame looking at photos of players from 1906. These aren’t worth much money, but are very cool. Make great bookmarks.

Peter G., New York Prop Dusters, SS
Charles Mandel, Helmar Antiquifyers, Owner
Laura M., Brattleboro Yankees, Mgr.
David B., East River Fishermen, P/Captain
Charlie C., Toll Bros. Demolition, SS
Ed B., SF Team Brothers ’N Sisters, CF 
Beth B., SF Team Brothers ’N Sisters, LF
D. Krasnoff, Team Navy, Coach
E. Krasnoff, Team Navy, G.M.
Elizabeth C., Team DiVino, Nutritionist
Brian S., Prudential All-Stars, CF
Barnaby C., Washington Absinthe Sippers, P/2B
Miles R., New York Value Seekers, 3B
Charles G., New York Limo Hailers, CF
Jacqui L., Mill Valley Visionaries, SS-2B
J. Redford, Marin County Muckrakers, P
Stefan, Smith, Sports Massage Marin (his real team), 3rd base coach
Devin C., Amsterdam Comedy Makers, P
Robert H., New York Skiiers, CF
Susan H., New York Museum Researchers, Mgr.
T. Wexler, L.A. Dealmakers, SS
Adam K., Ithaca Royal Palmists, CF
Bennett, J., Mill Valley Millers, 3B
Jonathan W., Mitzi Potted Parrot Fan Club, P
Jon R., Mill Valley Troubadors, P
David B., East Hampton Fly Casters, 1B 
Joe P., Sausalito Voiceovers, P
Jason A., Dalton Tigers, 2B
Stephanie A., Dalton Tigers, 1B
Jim C., San Francisco Dealmakers, P
Helen Y., Tiburon Sharks, SS
Karin T., Sausalito Winemakers, Mgr.
Adam T., Dalton Tigers, 2B
Duncan P., L.A. Guitar Riffers, P/OF
Ellen H., MVP Sister, DH
Kirk D., Arizona Tar Melters, LF
Adam K., Ontario Seal Pups, CF
Beth B., San Francisco Elites, RF
Kenneth P., Houston Stan Key, P
Douglas Zang, Santa Fe Steakmakers, C 
John B., San Juan All-Stars, P
Leila S., Sausalito Sartajians, Mental Health Coach

Every book purchased will be entered into the weekly drawing for a very cool, valuable baseball card(s). If you purchase 5, you will have 5 entries. If you purchase 10, you will have 10. Entries roll over week to week until the pre-sales campaign concludes when we hit 750 pre-sales!